Safety attachment for valves for faucets.



B. E. SMITH-.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR VALVES FOR FAUCETS.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH COnWASHlNflTON, n. c.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-11.1915- I 1 153264.. Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I;

. & A

l 1 T I 1| 1 5 M11 42' g All, hm W 11 A. L 0 m 1 11 1 h ll, 1! I H Ill R al a B E. SMITH. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR VALVES FOR FAUCETS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-11.1915.

1,13,M1 Patented Sept. 14, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- lllhllT TT@ PATENT FFTE I BASSETT E. SMITH, OF RAMSEY, ILLINOIS.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR VALVES FOR FAUCETS.

Application filed. February 11, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BASSETT E. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ramsey, in the county of Fayette and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Attachments for Valves for Faucets; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in safety attachments for faucets and more especially to faucets for gasolene and coal oil tanks such as are used byv oil distributing wagons and which are usually of the type of what are known as angle-cock valves.

The oil wagons such as are used by the National Refining Companyand the Standard Oil Company have three or more faucets or valves at the rear of each wagon. connected with tanks or compartments containing different kinds of oil, and the wagon drivers frequently make mistakes in dispensing these oils, such as drawing coal oil for gasolene and vice versa, thereby e11- dangering many human lives and much property, and consequently causing trouble for the companies by whom they are employed in the way of law suits and the like.

It is to prevent the possibility of such mistakes that this invention is designed, and a further feature of the invention lies in the fact thatno change is required in the anglecock body now in use when it is desired to use this invention in connection therewith, said device being secured to the spout of the angle-cock in a manner to be described. For use in dispensing these oils, buckets having different kinds of bails are used, those for transferring coal oil having larger bails than the bails of the gasolene buckets, and said coal oil bucket bails having lateral projections thereon intermediately of their ends while the gasolene bucket bails have no projections.

The safety attachment constituting this invention and which is adapted for interchangeable engagement with the faucets of the various tanks comprises .a device for normally locking the faucet valve against turning and is equipped with means for releasing the valve on the application to the faucetof the proper bucket for receiving the oil contained in the tank to the outl t of which Said faucet is applied.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. it, 1915.

Serial No. 7,564.

\Vith this and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, and the combination and arrangement of parts as will be more fully described and claimed In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of an anglecock or faucet with this improved attachment applied; Fig. 2 isa top plan .view thereof; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the faucet with the attachment shown in longitudinal section; Fig. 4: is an end View of the faucet with this attachment applied; Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the operating lever of the attachment, and Fig. 6 is a similar view of one of the plates of the attachment taken through the inner side. Fig. 7 is a detail side elevation of-the front portion of the attachment designed for application to the faucet of a coal oil tank showing the hand grip of the bail of a coal oil bucket in section engaged therewith; Fig. 8 is a detail perspective view of the hand grip of the bail of a coal oil bucket.

As shown this device is made in the form of a tilting lever support 1 composed of two similarly shaped detachably connected laterally spaced plates 2 and 3 having their lower edges curved as shown at 4 to conform to the curvature of the faucet spout S to which it is to be applied. This spout S is provided with the usualapertured lug L at the base of the spout adjacent the valve casing C which extends at right angles to said spout and said spout is also provided with an upturned nose N near its-discharge end which is usually employed for supporting the bucket to be filled.

One of the plates 2 or 3, it is immaterial which, is provided on its inner ends with laterally extending hollow bosses 5 and 6 which form spacing elements for the plates and through which and said plates the plate connecting elements 7 pass, these elements being, here shown in the form of screws, although it is obvious that bolts may be employed.

The rear ends of the plates 2 and 3 are of a height corresponding to the distance between the upper' face of the spout S and the top of the collar c of the valve casing, and are provided at their lower corners with rearwardly extending apertured ears 7 which are designed to fit under said collar .0 and'engage the opposite faces of the lug L with which these plates are connected by a thumb screw 8 passing through the apertures in said ears and lug which are thread- 7 7 be hereinafter described. As shown, these 7 plates are reinforced adjacent the walls of the recesses 11 by means of transversely extending ribs 12, said ribs being shown on 7 both faces of the plates adjacent the outer walls of said recesses and on the outer faces only adjacent the inner walls of the recesses, whereby the plates are sufiiciently strengthened at this point to enable them to stand the strain to which they are subjected during the performance of their function. I

Fulcrumed to swing between the plates 2 and 3 is a lever 13 shown in detail in Fig. 5

p and having a hollow boss 14 extending laterally from one side midway its length and through which its fulcrum stud or screw 15 is designed to pass and which extends also through the apertures 10in the projections 9 of the plates. A longitudinally extending reinforcing web 16 connects this boss 14 with the thicker inner portion of the lever 13. A lug 17' also extends from the same sideof the lever 13 as that on which the boss 14 is mounted between said boss and the outer end ofthe lever and is notched on its lower face as shown at 18 to receive one end of a spring 19 which exerts its tension to normally force said outer lever end upwardly and its inner end downwardly for a purpose to be described. As shown, this spring 19 is wound around the boss 5 and has its inner end inserted in said boss, the outer free end of said spring extending toward the recesses 11 and is preferably curved downwardly to facilitate the sliding thereover of the notched lug 17 of the lever-13. I

In Figs. 1 to 6, which shows the attachment constructed for use on gasolene tank faucets, the outer end of the lever 13 extends normally across the recesses 11 in the path of the bucketbail to be inserted therein. The inner end of this lever 13 is provided with. an arcuate laterally extending arm 20 which is concavo-c'onvex and is designed to rest normally on the upper face of the collar 0 of the valve casing and the curved face thereofv fits the periphery of the circular plate P which is fixed to the valve stem 8,

and thisplateis adapted to be'turned to open and close thevalve of the faucet. An arm A extends laterallyfrom this plate P and is designed to oscillate between two spaced stops for limiting the turning movement of the plate P in opposite directions. This arm A is provided in its free end with an aperture A which is adapted to register with a similar aperture in an arm a which extends laterally from the collar 0. These apertured arms are provided on the ordinary faucets to receive the shackle of a padlock for locking the valves and thereby preventing unauthorized removal of the contents of the tank controlled by said faucets.

The curved arm 20 of the lever 13 is normally disposed between the arm A and the pin 7) as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 when said arm A is engaged with the pin 72 and when so disposed said lever arm 20 completely fills the space between said arm A and the pin 19', and thus locks the plate P against turning and holds the valve in closed position. The spring 19 tends to hold the lever arm 20 in this position where it remains until sufficient force is exerted on the outer end of the lever 13 to move it downwardly against the tension of said spring and thereby tilt its arm carrying end upward out of the path of the arm A, and thus permit the plate P to be turned to open the valve of the faucet for discharging the contents of the tank T with which it is connected. lVhile this tilting of the lever 13 may be accomplished by hand, it is intended to be performed by the insertion in the registering recesses 11 of the plates 2 and 3 of the bail B of the gasolene bucket intended to be filled. This insertion of the bail B in the recesses 11 which are designed to support the bucket while being filled forces the outer end of the lever 13 which extends across these recesses 11 between the plates 2 and 3 down and thus releases the arm 20 and permits the faucet valve to be opened and the oil to flow out into the bucket. Upon the removal of the bucket bail B from the support 1, the spring 19 forces the outer end of the lever up and thus again lowers the arm 20 into valve locking position, it being understood that the valve has first been closed. The bucket bail receiving recess 11 formed by the registering recesses 11 in the two plates as shown and described above, is too narrow to receive the bail of a coal oil bucket and hence should the driver or other person inadvertently try to support a coal oil bucket on said'bucket support 1 which is adapted for a gasolene tank faucet, the hail of said bucket would not enter said recess and hence the valve would remain locked, thus calling his attention to his error.

the plates 2 and 3 are wider than the re- 16 adjacent the inner wall thereof, and a lateralv projection B on said grip B. is designed during the insertion of the grip B in the recess 11" to extend between the plates 2 and 3 and engage said lever end to force it down and raise the arm 20 to release the faucet valve, and thus permit the contents of the tank to pass out through said faucet into the bucket on which said bail and grip B is mounted.

From the above description it will be ob vious that this attachment may be readily removed from one faucet and applied to another by simply loosening the thumb screw 8 to permit the attachment to be readily removed from the faucetand placed in position on another faucet, and no matter to which faucet the attachment may be applied, the lever thereof cannot be actuated to release the faucet valve unless the proper bucket bail be inserted in the recesses of the attachment which is designed for supporting the bucket. For instance, should the coal oil bucket bail be attempted to be inserted in the narrow recesses of the gasolene attachment it would fail to enter said re cesses and its valve remain locked, while should the smaller gasolene bucket bail be inserted in the recesses of the attachment on the coal oil faucet it would pass into said recesses without coming in contact with the valve lever and thus the position of said lever remain unchanged. By this means it will be obvious that complete safety is insured as an operator could not possibly fill the bucket with the wrong oil after the attachment had once been placed on the proper faucet.

I claim as my invention:

1. A safety faucet attachment comprising a faucet engaging support, a lever fulcrumed on said support, a bail receiving member carried by said support, one end of said lever being positioned for engagement by a bail engaged with said receiving member, and means on the other end of said lever for locking a faucet valve when said bail receiving member is unoccupied.

2. A safety faucet attachment comprising a faucet engaging support, a lever fulcrumed on said support and having means on one end for locking a faucet valve when said lever is in normal position, a bail receiving member carried by said support, the other end of said lever being positioned in the path of the bail whereby said lever end is depressed on the engagement of said bail with said member and the other end of said lever raised.

8. A safety faucet attachment comprising a faucet engaging support, a lever fulcrumed intermediately of its ends on said support and having valve locking means at one end, a bail receiving recess in said support, the other end of said lever projecting into said recess, a spring for holding said projecting end normally raisedand its opposite end lowered.

4. A safety faucet attachment comprising a faucet engaging support, means for detachably connecting said support to said faucet, said supporthaving a recess extending transversely thereof, a lever fulcrumed on said support intermediately of its ends with one end projecting into said recess, valve locking means on the other end of said lever, and a spring mounted to engage the end of said lever which extends into said recess and hold said end normally raised and its other end lowered.

5. A safety faucet attachment comprising a faucet engaging support, means for detachably connecting said support to said faucet, said support having a recess extending transversely thereof, a lever fulcrumed on said support intermediately of its ends with one end projecting into said recess, valve locking means on the other end of said lever, and a spring mounted to engage the end of said lever which extends into said recess and hold said end normally raised and 1 its other end lowered, said lever having a laterally extending lug on one side thereof with a notch in its lower face positioned to slidably engage said spring.

6. A safety faucet attachment comprising laterally spaced plates having registering recesses in their upper edge, near one end thereof, means for detachably connecting said plates to a faucet, a lever fulcrumed intermediately of its ends between said plates with one end intersecting the plane of said recesses, an arcuate arm extending laterally from the other end of said lever, and a spring mounted between said plates and positioned to engage and support the outer end of said lever.

7. A safety faucet attachment comprising a pair of similarly shaped plates disposed side by side and detachably secured together, spacing elements arranged between said plates, the lower end of said plates being curved to fit the spout of a faucet, rearwardly extending apertured lugs, and the rear ends of said plates, the free ends of said plates being provided in their upper edges with inwardly extending registering recesses, a lever fulcrumed intermediately of its ends between the upper edges of said plates and having one end projecting across said recesses and the other end extending above said plates and provided with a laterally extending arcuate arm.

8. A safety faucet attachment comprising a faucet engaging support composed of later- 10f 'of'said plates and extending beyond the rear Copies of this patent may be obtained for ally spaced detachably connected'plates hav-.

ing their lower edges curved to conform to the curvature of afaucet spout, said plates having transversely extending recesses in their upper edges, reinforcing ribs formed on sand plates ad acent sald recesses, a lever 'fulcrumed intermediately of its ends between said plates at a point spaced inwardly fronif said recesses, one end of said lever extendingin a plane above the upper edges end thereof, and an arcuate arm extending laterally from the last mentioned end of said BASSETT E. SMITH.

Witnesses:

A. B. SMITH, BERT HAMBLEN.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington;D. 0. 

